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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30139671">Breathe</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightingaleTrash/pseuds/NightingaleTrash'>NightingaleTrash</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fable Oneshots [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Fable 3 (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, Panic Attack, Sibling Bonding, anyways give me hobw and spared!logan content or give me death, me? showing up a decade late with a smoothie? it's more likely than you think</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-15 17:41:29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,767</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30139671</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightingaleTrash/pseuds/NightingaleTrash</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lorna can't sleep and decides to get some fresh air. Turns out that she's not the only one.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Logan &amp; Princess (Fable)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Fable Oneshots [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2225616</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Breathe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was like someone was raking a nail against the inside of her skull, and the more she tried to ignore it, the more insistent it became. A hollow shriek that verberated against her brain, and a throbbing pain blossomed behind her eyes.</p><p>Lorna turned onto her side for what had to be the hundredth time now and screwed her eyes shut, willing herself to fall asleep. Just for a moment. But no such luck was had, and the irritating raking at the inside of her skull continued.</p><p>Finally sick of lying in bed with no resolution to the god-awful noise, she sat up and pushed away the bedsheets. She dragged her feet over the side of the bed and held her hands to her face, fingers pressing into the inner-corners of her eyes as a sigh dragged itself from her lungs. The pressure didn’t relieve the deep-seated exhaustion behind her eyes, but it helped… somehow. Like causing a brief reset of her senses.</p><p>Behind her, her sleeping companion whined and pawed at her hip as he stretched out to settle at her side. His wet nose pressed under the hem of her night shirt and he snorted inquisitively.</p><p>“I’m fine, Lexel,” Lorna giggled, scratching behind his ears; his tail thumped happily against the mattress in response, but he kept his big brown eyes fixed on his mistress nonetheless. </p><p>She heaved another sigh - something that was becoming all too common place as of late with the threat of the Crawler looming over her - and felt around for her slippers. It didn’t take long, as they’d been placed at her bedside by the servants who were seemingly determined to ensure that everything was perfect for their new Queen, though she doubted that it was loyalty or their work ethic that drove them.</p><p>The apprehension that lingered in the castle was beginning to thin as life resumed its course, but Logan’s tyranny had left a mark here. The day that Logan had Elliot executed was the day that everyone in the castle realised that they were expendable; if the King was willing to have a noble killed, no one was safe, maybe not even the Princess. Her running away with Walter and Jasper in tow had not helped things, and that was before she had returned with an army at her back.</p><p>It would be a long time before the wounds truly healed and the staff trusted their Queen, if they ever did. She’d been Queen for little over a month. There was still plenty of time for her to become her brother and no doubt there were bets being made over how long it would take.</p><p>But that wasn’t something she could afford to be worrying about right now, she reminded herself as she slipped a gown over her pyjamas and beckoned Lexel to follow as she left her chambers.</p><p>The cool night air nipped at her skin, and there was a promise of winter in its teeth. Even so it was preferable to the stuffy confines of her chambers. </p><p>She would have thought that she’d enjoy being able to sleep in her own bed again, surrounded by all the comforts of home, but now it didn’t feel like it fit anymore. She’d gotten used to sleeping above barrooms full of drunken singing and the rustle of a tent over her head. The castle was too quiet. Too static. Her time with the rebellion had seen her outgrow her childhood home, and now she was chained to it.</p><p>Her hands ran over the cold stone of the balustrade and she gazed out over the garden below. Logan’s statue was still in place on the plinth in the centre of the courtyard, despite numerous questions over when she planned to have it removed. The answer… well, she wasn’t sure of it just yet. It kept getting pushed further into the back of her mind where it would gather dust until there was nothing else to preoccupy her. By not deciding, she could still decide how she felt about her brother. </p><p>What Logan had done, she still struggled to forgive. As angry as it had made her, as righteous as the rebellion had been in overthrowing him, in light of what they knew now, it was easier to empathise with her brother and the enormity of the task he had faced.</p><p>Lorna and Walter’s encounter with the Crawler had been brief, but it had made an impression all the same. The suffocating darkness, the rasping voice crying out in mockery of her fears, Walter - fierce, unyielding Walter who never flinched away from his duty - screaming as his nightmares came to life; whenever sleep did find her, it always brought her back to Shadelight. To the Darkness. And she imagined it was no different for her brother or her mentor.</p><p>No one who brushed with such horror emerged the same person. She hadn’t, Logan hadn’t, and Walter hadn’t either, no matter how much they all tried to pretend otherwise.</p><p>Her fingers curled and her nails dug into her palms. Why hadn’t Theresa warned her as she had warned Logan? Why did she and Walter have to stumble blindly into that creature’s lair to learn the truth? Why did she have to stagger across the sands alone, tormented by the wailing cries of the father she had abandoned and the dead whispers of the Darkness?</p><p>Before her bitterness towards the Blind Seer had a chance to take hold of her mood, however, she was drawn back to reality by Lexel, who was barking from the top of the stairs.</p><p>“Is something the matter boy?” she asked, moving away from the balustrade to follow.</p><p>He just barked again and bounded down the steps with his fluffy white tail held high. Once he was sure that Lorna was following, he took off at a swift trot into the gardens themselves, barely pausing to make sure that she was keeping up.</p><p>Lorna shivered with cold but followed regardless. Anything to distract her from own dark thoughts.</p><p>The gardens were usually a bustling hub of activity, where visiting nobles milled about and exchanged the latest gossip, or the gardeners pruned the rose bushes, tended the flower beds, and generally kept the space immaculate. Guards would stand at attention, eyes sharp for trouble, but always amenable to a quick greeting from their Princess. It was a place of community within the castle, and it was odd to see it so empty. </p><p>That being said, the quiet wasn’t unwelcome. The trickle of fountain water, the whistle of the wind and the crunch of gravel under her feet kept it from a stifling silence that allowed the raking nails in her head to grow overwhelming, but it wasn’t so loud that it hurt.</p><p>Lexel disappeared into the hedgerows, the tip of his tail whipping around the corner just as Lorna caught up. He led her towards the overlook, where the garden fell away to a lower rung and Bowerstone Industrial was visible in the distance.</p><p>A year ago it was where she had met Elliot on that fateful day. The day that had changed everything. He’d been waiting for her with news of the rumours regarding the fate of a factory worker and asked her to speak with her brother about it. He’d really thought that Lorna could get through to Logan… And she had believed the same. </p><p>Funny how innocent they had been back then. Funny how quickly it had all changed.</p><p>But tonight it wasn’t Elliot standing at the balustrade, staring out over the city below. It was Logan.</p><p>It was funny really. He didn’t look nearly so intimidating as he had when he was King. Maybe it was the way he was slumped against the balustrade, staring blankly out at the city. Or maybe it was the fact his hair was tousled and he was wearing his pyjamas instead of his usual regalia. </p><p>All things considered, it was probably both. He cut a much less striking figure now than he’d done in years. But then maybe that was just how he looked since coming back from Aurora, and it was only now out here, in the dark of the deserted garden, was she getting to see it.</p><p>Lexel bounded over to Logan’s side and barked in greeting. Logan startled and, in a moment of raw instinct, leapt away from the dog and reached for the sword he usually carried at his hip but was currently absent. Then he blinked as he processed what he was looking at.</p><p>“Ah, Lexel. Shouldn’t you be with Lorna?”</p><p>Lexel just barked again and bumped his head against Logan’s knee insistently until he acquiesced and reached down to pat the collie, his long fingers digging into the ruff of fur around Lexel’s neck.</p><p>Lexel sat, then edged closer to Logan, his tail thumping the ground in joy as he revelled in the attention. It had been a long time since the former King had bothered to give him any attention beyond a brief brushing off or to send him back to his mistress, and he was taking full advantage of the rare display of affection.</p><p>Lorna lingered at the periphery, unwilling to intrude right away. Only when Logan glance up at her did she move forward.</p><p>“You should be asleep,” he said, straightening up even as Lexel whined in protest. “A queen needs her rest.”</p><p>“So do her advisors,” she shot back.</p><p>He jerked his head and turned away, resuming his vigil from the balustrade. But there was no clear dismissal as he might have previously offered, so she decided to join him. </p><p>For a while there was silence, and not the companionable kind that felt comfortable and unintrusive. Instead it was awkward, festering in the air with a growing awareness of each other’s presence.</p><p>It was rare for them to be in the same room before she’d left, and now their conversations often revolved around policy, budgeting, and strategy. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt like a brother rather than a guardian, or an advisor. Or an enemy.</p><p>“You didn’t even listen to Reaver’s proposal in court today,” Logan pointed out. “He barely got to speak before you decided to agree with Page.”</p><p>Her jaw clenched at the mention of Reaver; she found the man to be completely repugnant, and if it weren’t for the looming threat of the Darkness and the lack of anyone more suited to head up Bowerstone Industrial, she’d have had him arrested by now. He was an unpleasant necessity within the court… for now.</p><p>But as sleepless as she was, she was too tired to defend her decision to steamroll over Reaver.</p><p>“Can we just… <em> not </em> talk about work? For once?” she sighed. “I made my decision, it’s done. Now we move on.”</p><p>Logan paused for a moment, then nodded.</p><p>“Of course. Though your assistant, Hobson? He was telling anyone who’d listen how you’d so generously donated to the royal treasury to cover the costs of the school. If you were wondering what people are saying.”</p><p>She had been, and rarely did her mind come up with anything good to say. A little confirmation of the opposite ought to have been a relief, but she’d learned quickly to not put too much stock in Hobson’s flattery or his criticism. He was, as he’d said so himself, a toady, so he’d say whatever kept him in her good graces all while remaining fixated on the state of the treasury.</p><p>For a while they lapsed back into silence as they stared out over the city. In just under a year, it would be a warzone. Again. And unless they could build the army they needed before then, it would become a graveyard. Ravaged and lifeless with only the remnants clinging to life on the fringes, trying to hold out against a foe they knew almost nothing about.</p><p>The task seemed insurmountable. The money she had raised to aid the rebellion had found use in keeping the royal coffers full, but would it be enough? How many could she save, realistically? How many would they lose? Would there be a kingdom left to salvage when it was all over?</p><p>She wasn’t the only one consumed by such thoughts. </p><p>At her side, Logan had gone stiff, and his blank stare was fixed on one spot. His hands were clenched so tightly that his knuckles had gone white, and after a moment passed, Lorna realised that he wasn’t breathing.</p><p>“Logan?”</p><p>He didn’t respond and when she placed a hand on his shoulder, she could feel him trembling in spite of himself. His face had gone white and whatever facade of self-control he had managed to maintain had finally began to crumble.</p><p>“Logan. You need to breathe,” Lorna said with a gentle firmness, squeezing his shoulder. “It’s not here yet. We’ve got time to prepare. Breathe in.”</p><p>It took him a moment to do as she instructed, and it clearly took a lot more effort than he would ever admit to.</p><p>“In. Then hold it. And out slowly.”</p><p>Her hand slipped into his, and he unconsciously gripped it as a drowning man might grip the hand of his saviour as he was pulled from the depths. Lorna squeezed back and continued to repeat the simple instructions.</p><p>Bit by bit, Logan began to uncoil. The tension trickled from his frame and the trembling in his grip finally began to subside as the colour returned to his face. He blinked hard a few times as if to clear his eyes of the stray tears that had gathered there, then flinched slightly when Lorna reached up to thumb them away before melting into the contact.</p><p>A low breath shook itself from his lungs.</p><p>“Thank you,” he murmured. “I shouldn’t have-”</p><p>“It’s okay.”</p><p>When she had faced the Darkness, she had had Walter and Lexel at her side throughout the ordeal and they had come out the other side alive. Logan had gone to Aurora with his men and returned alone as the sole survivor of the Darkness, only to be burdened with the knowledge that it would follow him back to Albion. She might begrudge her brother for many things, but this wasn’t one of them. She didn’t want to imagine how she’d be dealing with all of this if she had been in his shoes.</p><p>Still… it was so strange to find herself standing opposite him like this when so much had changed. From brother and sister to King and Rebel Princess to Queen and Advisor… When was the last time they had just been siblings?</p><p>She was drawn from her thoughts when Logan addressed her again.</p><p>“Strange how well you remember that exercise,” he murmured. “Do you remember where you learned it?”</p><p>She paused then shook her head.</p><p>“It was after Mother died. You were inconsolable for months. Every time you wanted her and realised that she wasn’t there anymore, you had a panic attack,”  he explained soberly. “I remember asking everyone I could think of if they knew anything if there was anything I could do to help. A servant had the answer. Rosemary. She said that breathing is key to keeping a level head.”</p><p>“Smart woman,” Lorna said with a small smile.</p><p>“She was.”</p><p>A ghost of a melancholic smile touched his lips before he straightened up. His hand slipped from Lorna’s and all too quickly he began to reclaim that facade of calm control.</p><p>“It’s late, and we have much to do tomorrow,” he said evenly. “You should get back to bed-”</p><p>“Logan, wait.”</p><p>He froze, and Lorna swallowed hard.</p><p>“I just…” </p><p>She floundered, unsure of what it was she actually wanted to say. That she wanted him to be her brother again? That he didn’t need to carry his burden alone anymore? That no matter what, they were in this together? That she needed him?</p><p>Ultimately words were insufficient. Too clumsy, too formal, too limited. So instead she wrapped her arms around him, buried her face into the crook of his neck and held on tight. </p><p>Logan was all angles and lean muscle, wound tight like a spring at first, before he surrendered to whatever base desires he had long deprived himself of and gripped Lorna tightly to his chest, firm and solid and warm. Once he had been a place of safety; a place to flee when the world was dark or overwhelming and she needed someone to turn to.</p><p>Maybe he could be again. And maybe now, she could be the same for him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Welp RTGame has made me play a Fable game and ofc I instantly gravitated to the HOBW and Logan's relationship because that's my Whole Deal &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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